(MintPress) – Moments after two Steubenville high school football players were convicted of raping a 16-year-old female classmate, Ohio’s attorney general called for a grand jury investigation to determine if more than two perpetrators were guilty of carrying out — and encouraging — the sexual assault of an unconscious victim.
Trent Mays, 17, was convicted as a minor on one count of rape Sunday and one count of using a minor in a sexually explicit video. He faces a minimum of two years at a juvenile detention facility. Ma’Lik Richmond, 16, was also found delinquent of rape — he faces a minimum of one year at a juvenile facility.
During the trial, the defense argued that the two young men were unaware of what rape really was, calling on a female expert to testify that was the case.
“These kids weren’t clear on what rape was,” Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Assault Executive Director Katie Hanna told the jury.
The jury didn’t buy it, as multiple witnesses described the actions of the two young men and testified that the victim was clearly intoxicated.
The two boys sobbed as the verdicts were read, yet that didn’t deter Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to back away from the case, keeping his eye on the victim and calling instead for a widespread investigation to expose the culture in which the boys thrived.
DeWine told reporters Sunday that there is reason to believe the sexual assault was committed by others within the boys’ circle of friends, highlighting a need for an investigation and for justice to be carried out. Parents and coaches also will be targeted in the investigation to determine if they were a part of a widespread cover-up.
On Monday, two teenage girls were arrested for Twitter comments that threatened homicide against the victim — one comment read, “You ripped my family apart.” A Facebook post made by a 15-year-old girl threatened bodily harm against the victim, according to the Associated Press.
His comments echoed concerns that followed the release of videos by Hacktivist organization Anonymous. Leaked videos showed multiple boys laughing about the sexual assault, referring to the victim as a “dead girl,” and describing how they dragged her to multiple parties, where multiple teenage boys raped her.
The call for a grand jury investigation is not only to highlight the problem within Steubenville, Ohio, but to use this incident to illustrate that the incident represents a widespread cultural issue. By exposing the culture in Steubenville, DeWine said the nation will perhaps then highlight the issue that hides in the shadows of their own communities.
“Crimes like this are committed every single weekend in this country,” DeWine told reporters. “And until we wake up and understand that, we’re not going to understand the problem.”
One week before the Steubenville conviction, two 19-year-olds were convicted in Michigan for raping a high school freshmen.
A 2012 study conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 17 percent of Indiana high school girls had been victims of sexual assault. Nationwide, the figures were 10.5 percent.
On college campuses, it’s estimated that one in four women have been a victim of rape, according to Crisis Connection, an advocacy organization. That same organization also pointed to the use of alcohol among perpetrators as a common, citing alcohol use as among four top predictors of whether rape would occur on a college campus.
When it comes to the general population, more than 1 million people were victims of rape in 2010 alone, according to the CDC. Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. ranks 13th in terms of rape.
There’s an issue regarding how the nation deals with rape — and it’s nothing new. A study conducted in the early 1990s, which surveyed high school boys and girls, indicated that 78 percent of boys “believed forced sex was acceptable under some circumstances.”
Highlighting a larger problem
The Steubenville rape case gained global attention after the leaked Anonymous video, which was accompanied by emails of community and school leaders that illustrated a widespread effort to cover up the incident, to protect the boys.
In its release statement, Anonymous indicated the purpose of its hack, claiming the city could no longer attempt to cover up the reality of the situation.
“First and foremost, our hearts and condolences go out to the young lady who was the victim of this brutal and brazen attack, and to her family,” the statement read. “We pray that this disclosure can bring them some comfort, and that by bringing a measure of transparency to Steubenville, Ohio perhaps also some real justice to the victim of this horrible crime.”
Following the Anonymous leak, Sheriff Fred Abdalla, who was leading the investigation into the incident, held a press conference, in which he addressed the crime allegedly committed by Anonymous, rather than focusing on the issue and culture of rape within his community.
Abdalla became the target of protesters calling for justice in the rape case. They claimed his attention was faced on hacktivists, rather than the victim. And they were right.
Abdalla admitted he watched the video, but said that it provided no new evidence in the rape investigation.
“It’s a disgusting video,” he said, according to Reuters. “It’s stupidity. But you can’t arrest somebody for being stupid.”
The attorney general, however, disagrees. DeWine is calling for the grand jury investigation to be carried out in Ohio’s Jefferson County in April.